The Freshman Orientation Adventure (9GOA) is a unique Episcopal tradition in which freshmen spend the first four days of high school in the woods, camping, hiking, and whitewater rafting in order to set the tone for their years in Upper School. Through these adventures, as well as the care of junior and senior counselors, the freshmen learn that they each have an impact on their peers, their grade, and the wider ESJ community. The mission of the trip is to move students out of their comfort zones so that they have the opportunity to grow as individuals and to get to know one another in an authentic way. 

The class of 2029 was the 33rd class to experience the trip — for the last several years there have been multiple campers whose ESJ alumni parents camped on the same sites, hiked the same trail, and rafted the same river. The trip has become multi-generational. Alumni regularly list the trip as their hallmark experience at Episcopal, either as a camper or as a counselor. 

The leaders of this trip from the director to the trip coordinators, senior counselors and junior counselors are united in the values of safety and belonging. Everything that we do is to keep students physically and emotionally safe and to communicate a sense of belonging. By the time students return from this trip, it is our goal that they feel a deep sense of connection to each other and belonging to our community. 

Benefits for Students Include: 

• Integrates new freshmen seamlessly — tent groups are designed to bring students together from different friend groups
• Gives the freshman class a collective experience at the very beginning of Upper School — this will be an experience that they will always share. 
• Gives students the opportunity to move outside of their comfort zone — whether by camping, being away from home, in a new group of people, or trying something new, every student has a growth opportunity
• Teaches students that their role matters — every group of campers has a camp duty, it could be helping with dishes, taking down tents, or making sandwiches. It takes all of us to make the experience a success! 
• Incorporates spiritual life through nightly campfires and a tent devotional
• Gives students a safe space to take risks — adventures are inherently risky, students have the opportunity to try new things and take chances while surrounded by leaders and faculty who care
• Gives students an opportunity to care for one another — pulling someone back into a raft, giving them a hand on the hike, helping carry a bag up to the bus, or loaning someone a dry shirt, students have direct and concrete ways to care for one another
• Demonstrates the multilayered structure of care that students will experience in Upper School — there are a lot of people looking out for these freshmen: junior counselors, senior counselors, faculty chaperones, and trip coordinators. This is demonstrative of the community that will be looking out for them for the next four years and the people that they can turn to for guidance.